


Memento Mori

by shslAO3_fanficWriter



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Major Spoilers, Other, this was supposed to be a brief character study on kokichi but whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 03:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20057059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shslAO3_fanficWriter/pseuds/shslAO3_fanficWriter
Summary: Kokichi collects evidence so that no one is forgotten, even if he eventually will be.





	Memento Mori

The room was a mess.  
The door had barely creaked open and the stench of livelihood permeated the hallway air.  
As more light was shed onto the mysterious dungeon, there really was no simpler description.  
It was a mess.

Shuichi took one step into the cacophony of mayhem and was struck with the incredible sensation of despair.  
Everywhere around him were traces of his old friends: people who should still be alive.  
People who, despite it all, were succumbed into the gaping maw of death.

It was sickening—to think that Kokichi found some sick pleasure from the remembrance of this game.  
The game that he had claimed to run and control.  
And yet he lay under cold steel, the mysteries pouring out of him to remain unsolved forever.  
But even in death, the boy refused to go down easy.  
Even in death, Kokichi had somehow managed to only create even more mysteries for Shuichi to solve.

He approached the whiteboard and inspected it, the toxicity of the marker ink infecting his lungs in a piercing guilt as he breathed in the damp air.

_Trustworthy?_

The label pinned him against the cold wall of reality as the arrow leered at him like the hateful eyes of victimhood.  
The first blackened, per se.  
Those eyes, how they dug under Shuichi's skin and tore apart his veins, creating strings to puppeteer him into what the world wants.

What the world _needs_.

The ultimate detective.

But he was no ultimate.  
What stood before him was a mockery of himself, a hat placed atop his head, and lies scribbled below him.  
He wasn't trustworthy.  
And he wasn't an ultimate detective.

He was just Shuichi Saihara.

Someone who had found himself thrust into a game of life and death.  
Someone who struggled under the reign of hope versus despair.  
And someone who had thought that he had mastered the artistry of truth against lies.

And yet, here he was.  
In the heart of all the lies.  
And all he could see was truth.  
The truth that he had been running from, despite being the one to force it upon all of the others.

In the end, he couldn't save anybody.

Instead, he was the one condemning them all to a painful and excruciating death.

And Kokichi?

Who was he?

He wasn't the mastermind.

He was a kid forced to play this game, just like the rest of them.  
He was infuriating and hated: a bully and a tease.  
Shuichi couldn't think of a single person that liked him.  
But who _was_ he?

He was a master of lies, but he weaved himself through so many truths.  
For what were his lies, if not a form of truth?  
Sufferable as he may have been, Shuichi has to acknowledge what he's done.

Kokichi had called Kaede out on bringing about despair.  
Whether or not she had meant to, her continuous rush to escape only escalated the defeated feeling harboring in everyone's chests.  
Shuichi had regretted not having anyone to share his motive video with, after seeing how Kirumi handled hers, and yet Kokichi had been the one to suggest they all watch them together as soon as they had gotten them.  
Shuichi isn't sure if it was intentional or not, but Kokichi was also the one who found Korekiyo's trick.  
Without Kokichi's help, whether purposeful or not, Shuichi isn't sure that he would've been able to solve the third trial.

But did he want to?

Of course he wants to solve these cases, and it saves the lives of everyone else.

However...

Solving these cases means forcing someone into an execution.

And then there's the fourth trial.  
Kokichi was the cause of two people's deaths.  
He was the cause of two people's _murders_.  
Shuichi can't excuse this one.  
If he was smart enough to figure out Miu's plan, he should've been smart enough to stop her without having Gonta kill her.

But this only raises more questions.  
Questions upon questions rise up Shuichi's throat like bile, and everything hits him all at once.

What is the purpose of this room?  
Looking at it, it's an investigation site.  
Kokichi has his prime suspects listed and he's gathered evidence, but it's so grossly intoxicating.  
The ambiance swirls around like a typhoon to crash through Shuichi's skull and rock his bones into a subconscious understanding that he refuses to accept.

Kokichi Ouma was a human being.

Kokichi Ouma wanted to stop this game as much as Shuichi did.

Kokichi Ouma held onto mementos of his dead acquaintances.

Kokichi Ouma was the black raven with shimmering feathers that called to you from his perch on a skull.

_Memento mori. Memento mori._

_Remember_, sings the bird, _that death is coming_.

And as the bird flies away, an iridescent feather floats down, shining purple under the never-ending sun.  
The feather is all that's left of the bird after it leaves, never to be seen or heard again.

Shuichi picks up the old motive video tablet and turns it on, watching the video.

This is the feather.

All around him is a reminder of death, but there are also reminders of life.  
These are the mementos of his friends; their memories live on in here.

_Memento vivere._

Why did Kokichi collect these items?  
Why did Kokichi do the things he did?  
All questions have answers, but not every answer is found.

Shuichi will never know Kokichi Ouma.

Kokichi is dead.

And Shuichi never bothered to look at the feathers that shimmered with life, he only focused on the crackling skull.  
Now the purple feathers are stained with lifelessness, begging to be asked:  
_Who are you?_

But no one ever asks.

Kokichi Ouma was alone.  
And now he always will be.


End file.
